Author : Emily A. Wray
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (872 download)
Book Synopsis The Relationship Between Pragmatic Language Skills and Depressive Symptoms in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder by : Emily A. Wray
Download or read book The Relationship Between Pragmatic Language Skills and Depressive Symptoms in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder written by Emily A. Wray and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ABSTRACT: Children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are at increased risk for developing symptoms of depression. To date, few research studies have examined factors likely to contribute to the depressive symptomatology experienced by children with ASD. Previous investigations have suggested that language deficits, particularly deficits in pragmatic language, may be associated with socioemotional problems, such as depression, in typically developing children. However, this relationship has never been investigated among children with ASD. The current study utilized hierarchical multiple regression to investigate the relationship between pragmatic language ability and depressive symptoms among 50 children with ASD between the ages of 7 and 17. The researchers hypothesized that pragmatic language ability would account for a significant portion of the variance in depressive symptomatology exhibited by the sample of participants. The investigators predicted that children with better pragmatic language ability would exhibit fewer symptoms of depression. Results of the study provided partial support for this hypothesis. When predicting parent-reported symptoms of depression, including a parent rating scale of pragmatic language ability significantly increased the predictive value of the model. This variable uniquely accounted for a significant portion of the variance in parent-reported depressive symptoms. In contrast, a performance-based indicator of pragmatic language skills was not a useful contributor to the model.